[kj] Foreword to 'The Sacred & Profane Verse of Killing Joke 1979-2015'

[Paul Rangecroft]

It is easy to understand why so many outsiders and critics alike have
commented on Killing Joke's supposedly unhealthy fixation with
conflict (in all its forms) and its repeated employment of hard
realism. This has been largely misunderstood, as Killing Joke has
always utilised such emotive states in order to explore perspectives
of other dimensions much in the same way as the Surrealists Tanguy and
Dali used the system of 'paranoid critical activity' energised by
delirious obsessions which then was elaborated into mystical nuclear
art.

In the literary world, Rimbaud (amongst others) employed a similar
process with his systematic derangement of the senses for the
production of true poetic vision. The Surrealist writer Andre Breton
crystallises the paranoid-critical phenomena in the slogan 'Beauty
will be convulsive or not be'. Killing Joke's live concerts have
proven to be a testament to this system. In all honesty, convulsion,
derangement, delirium, obsession, reversion, nostalgia and ecstasy
were the major elements in the current we were invoking. Thus a
shamanistic approach was consciously employed within the musical
framework and indeed we immersed ourselves in a hellish vortex of
paranoia, savage imagery, brutal awareness and the blackest of humour.

The choruses in our songs were always used as mantras to achieve a
state of madness, just so we could have a fleeting glimpse, vision or
impression within the frenzy of live performance. This experience (or
Gnosis) in turn influenced subsequent lyrics, which created a
metamorphosis in our lives and gave birth to obscure dreams and
obsessions which later proved to possess accurate prophetic qualities.

The examples are numerous. The chorus of 'Empire Song' became a
headline in a famous tabloid during the Falklands conflict, the first
four lines of 'Chapter III' came to life some 18 years later during my
role in the transformation of the New Zealand national anthem, my
obsession with an island at the end of the earth (evident in many
songs) also became real to me when I purchased my farm on an island in
the Pacific.

A few years back, I noticed our record company Spinefarm put a video
of 'I Am the Virus' out on YouTube on September 11th (unbeknown to
me). One line from the song jumped out at me. On September 11th 2015,
Jeremy Corbyn became the leader of the Labour Party. Corbyn had stated
quite emphatically that he wished to see Tony Blair tried for war
crimes. "Did you sleep ok last night Mr Blair?" And then there is that
prophetic line from 'Exile' that predicts 9/11...

Finally and perhaps most significantly is the mystery of collaboration
in Killing Joke. Paul Ferguson and myself tend to choose certain
themes and approach it from two different perspectives. One of the
most incredible things about being in a band is the gift of being able
to grow together. From the perspective of Killing Joke's prose, Paul
writes for me and I for him, which is difficult to understand in this
era of selfishness and narcissistic egotism. Namely that there is
strength in unity. It has always been a privilege to collaborate on
the lyrics with the other founder member of Killing Joke, Big Paul
Ferguson. At the heart of Killing Joke is Gnosis and Gnosis (like a
band) is a shared experience. Here then are the lively oracles of
Killing Joke.

Jaz Coleman
Saint Petersburg, Russia